Great question. A buddy of mine told me of the great deal he got with his package. 5 nights, all food included (3 meals and a snack p/p per day) all the golf he wanted, a fishing excursion, leave a legacy brick (if that is what it is called) blah blah blah. It came to about $3400.00.
He kept on telling me how I should do the same thing. When I explained to him that it would cost me over $10,000 for the five of us for nine days he just didn't understand. We ended up doing the entire trip for $6,000. That was everything goodies, MNSSHO and costumes, food, travel...everything.
He thought that he got a great deal and it is IF you do everything that is included in your package. He didn't go golfing or fishing. He didn't use the spa treatment. He did eat at the best restaurants and ordered the most expensive stuff...his wife didn't because that is not what she wanted.
I looked at the packages extensively before our first trip. Two things make them worthwhile 1. Very convenient!! Getting a package makes preparing for a trip easy. 2. If you plan on taking advantage of most of the perks(all, seems to be impossible to me, I can't see how anyone would have the time but I'm sure some have done it) that come with the package then it pays off.
If you really aren't sure whether a package for you ask yourself some questions like:
Am I willing to book flights, resort rooms, dinner PS's etc. on my own?
How much am I willing to pay for someone to do those things for me?
Which perks am I going to be able to take advantage of?
If you are not going to use all the perks write up a check list of what you will be doing and get the prices of those.
Food... well we have 3 kids. 10, 7 and 4 we found that 1 to 2 sit down meals a day would be more than enough. Supplementing a dessert or snack between sit down meals or innstead of a meal worked great. We never would have eaten 3 full meals a day.
It's a lot to think about but if you research it you should be able to come up with a plan that works for you, whether its a Disney plan or one of your own.